Songs For After Midnight, Part 1

Good Feeling – Violent Femmes
A lifetime ago, hours after you said “fuck it,” in terms of making it home in time for curfew. You aren’t drunk anymore. No one is talking, because everyone is too tired to even sleep. Some people are holding hands, some people are not, but everyone is together. And then, there it is, the sunrise. Good feeling.

Eine Kleine Hedmusik – Coldcut
My friend G used to run a magazine about Acid Jazz. He also DJ’d at various clubs. In the DJ booth, girls would occasionally ask him, after grooving to his beats, to massage their feet. Or so he used to tell me. Sticks by the story to this day. Anyway, I wasn’t really getting this whole Acid Jazz scene. I would go to the bars and stand there and most likely get in the way of girls asking him to massage their feet. But then, he played me this song, and it all made sense. Acid Jazz. Oh yes. I GET IT. Acid Jazz, of course.

The Weight – The Band
The title of this song says it all. The music takes the load off.

Sunday Mornin’ Comin Down – Kris Kristofferson
If you’ve drunk too much and just can’t take even one more sip of alcohol, and this song comes on, you know you’re going to crack open another can of beer. And it would definitely be a can of beer, because this is a beer-can-song if there ever was one. Also, if I am ever in a fist fight and it gets captured on video, I’d like this song to be the soundtrack to the slow-motion version.

Night Moves – Bob Seger
“In the summertime… mmmm… In the sweet summertime” – Indeed. No moves, just the summertime, when it’s still blazing hot even though the sun went down hours ago and that cool breeze finally kicks in.

Overkill – Colin Hay
You can’t sleep. You can’t help but think about that fact as you toss and turn. Finally, you get out of bed. Too restless to read, nothing on TV. The Netflix movies have been sitting there for over a month, you clearly don’t want to watch any of those. You drink down a glass of water. You open the fridge and nothing looks good. You pour yourself a real drink. You sit down on the couch. The glass is in your hand, resting on your knee. You bring the glass the glass to your mouth and take a drink, staring straight ahead the whole time. You start thinking – and not about the fact that you can’t get to sleep.

Sparring Partner – Paolo Conte

I Love You – Asie Payton
For that night when you are with just the right person and midnight is just when it’s getting started.

Kid Fears – Indigo Girls
Am I a fan of the Indigo Girls? Hell YES. Mainly because I had their first record in college and I felt like nobody understood me (yes, I was unique even back then), and I felt like if I played the song Closer to Fine really loud, over and over again, people would look at me and think I was cool, and I would therefore be “understood.” I was very popular in my suite, as you can imagine. I’m pretty much over that song now. Well, I shouldn’t say that, because I just played it and I find myself playing it again. But the song that has really stood the test of time is Kid Fears. It’s a little overwrought, to tell the truth, but when Michael Stipe enters into the song, gently at first, and then full throttle just a few moments later, the song goes up to another level.

Who Are You – Tom Waits
I remember the first time I heard this song. I had just moved to San Francisco, was crashing at my friend’s place. She and her boyfriend had CDs strewn all over their house. Tom Waits’ album Bone Machine jumped out at me. I popped it into the player and gave it a listen. I was fascinated by Tom Waits’ voice. I remember discussing with my friend how I couldn’t understand how a guy with a voice like that could “make it.” This is one of those reminders that, yes, I am an idiot. Just listen. Just listen to the music, she told me, and so I did, especially this song. It haunts me to this day.